[Femina geekoides]

Chirrup

One endearing characteristic of Somali cats (well, one of their many endearing characteristics) is their chirrup. Where other cats miaow or yowl, Somalis chirrup. Imagine someone pronouncing a rolling 'r' (as in Spanish1) with a rising, musical inflection, which sometimes ends in a miaow-like sound. I've never heard a cat make a sound like that before, and it makes me smile every time.

The other night, during a protracted chirruping bout before her dinner, I realised that the sound reminded me of something else: Chewbacca on helium. All she needs is a little bandolier and a cat-sized space ship, and she's all set.

1 Which I have just discovered, courtesy of Wikipedia, is called an alveolar trill. ↑